Over the Rainbow Creates Paper Quilt in Honour of World AIDS Day
Inspired by the NAMES Project that created the AIDS Quilt to simultaneously memorialize and radicalize the losses due to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, Rainbow Resource Centre's Over the Rainbow group (55 years and older) chose to memorialize our loved ones through the creation of our own paper quilt. Some folks have chosen to print off photos, create oil-pastel drawings, or collage images from magazines and books.
Since October, the project has called on the surviving friends and family of any 2SLGBTQ+ persons who have passed to create a quilt square dedicated to their loved one. This memorial project is to honour all those we have lost in our community, not exclusively those who have passed due to AIDS-related complications. We have created squares for whomever we mourn. The 2SLGBTQ+ community experiences a great deal of grief, and we mourn many different losses.
World AIDS Day is December 1st, and at our Intergenerational Potluck we will unveil our own version of a memorial quilt, inspired by the mass political action undertaken by the NAMES Project. In the creation of this quilt, we have made space for those who cannot join us in corporeality, so that their presence may still be felt as we gather to grieve the loss of our loved ones and celebrate our community's ongoing resiliency and survival.
If you'd like to create a square, please feel welcome to do so. The squares are completed on 8" x 8" cardstock paper and will be displayed at Rainbow's home of 545 Broadway for a limited period of time.
